


A Good Dog

by Calamityjim



Series: Liminal Spaces [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Family Bonding, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-04-23 00:43:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22228945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calamityjim/pseuds/Calamityjim
Summary: Dami is left unsupervised with the Wayne DVD collection
Relationships: Jason Todd & Damian Wayne
Series: Liminal Spaces [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1414078
Comments: 47
Kudos: 1807





	A Good Dog

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rehabilitated_Sith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehabilitated_Sith/gifts), [applejee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/applejee/gifts).

> So I was given some prompts and I decided to combine the two to get this one. I hope you all enjoy it and that it meets the prompt requirements. :)

Jay poked his head into the study, unsurprisingly finding it empty. B was busy keeping up appearances at work. LIke, his actual work, not Justice League stuff. Dick and Tim were both at the Mountain. Dick said they were just training while Tim said he had very important work to do. Jay interpreted to mean that Tim was going to punch La’gaan in the face.    
  


Repeatedly. 

Fish Boy seemed to have something against Conner, and Tim seemed to have something against anyone who dished out shit to the people who’d helped him take down the Light. Jay felt really great about being included on that list if it only meant that was never going to come at him. Tim could be a mean fucker without meaning to and a terrifying bastard when he put his mind to it. Jay loved Tim, but he also valued staying on Tim’s good side. 

So that left Jay, Alfred and Dami alone in the house today. He’d been hunting around for the anklebiter for the last half-hour, but B’s house was too fucking big and Dami was too fucking small. The kid could tuck himself anywhere and wouldn’t be found until he wanted to be. 

With a grumble Jay shut the office door. Maybe Dami was ‘absorbing North American values through the drivel known as popular media’? Kid just couldn’t call it watching a movie, or admit that watching them wasn’t a chore. He headed over to the media room. As he drew closer he could hear sound pouring out, which made Jay like his odds. He hummed along as he drew close, a memory tugging at his brain even as the tune left his lips. Whatever Dami had been watching was just so familiar. 

Something about animals?

Jay knew this song. Now what was it?

He popped his head into the media room, expecting to find Dami either engrossed in the movie or fast asleep, but as far as Jay could see the boy wasn’t here at all. Which was strange. Dami wasn’t one to leave the TV running after his was done; something about sound and hiding from enemies. 

Jay looked up, catching the screen itself. It was on the dvd main screen menu, the credits having obviously long rolled over, that catching song on repeat. Oh!

It was Old Yeller.

Oh. 

_It was Old Yeller._

Fuck Jay sideways. 

Jay bolted out of the room, skidding on the hardwood. He pulled off his socks so he had better traction, his mind racing as fast as his feet. Number one priority was to find Dami. Where would the kid go if traumatized? 

Fuck B and his giant fucking house and his gazilions of dollars. Jay wasn’t big enough to search this place by himself. What was he going to-oh! Intercom! He stumbled as he stopped, his body and feet in disagreement over their current speed. He recovered with a few hops and slammed a button on the intercom. 

“Alfred! ALFRED!”

Jay’s breath echoed across the empty hall as blood rushed in his ears. How long did he need to give this before the man picked up? Was Alfred even near an intercom? Did he hear Jay? Maybe Jay should hit the button again?

“Master Jay,” came Alfred’s smooth voice, calm and soothing in the wake of Jay’s growing panic. 

“Alfred! Dami watched Old Yeller!” Jay was probably yelling, but he had bigger things to worry about.

There was a pause on the other end. “Oh dear. I shall prepare some hot coco.” 

“No, Alfred!” Jay shook his head even though the man couldn’t see the gesture. “I don’t know where he is!”

“Ah,” came the butler’s voice with renewed understanding. “A search is inorder. I will check the cave and make my way up. I suggest you start with Master Dami’s ‘secret’ weapons cache and work your way down.” 

Jay nodded. Okay. Plan. That was a plan. He could work with a plan. He bolted off, not even responding to the old butler. Dami kept a stash of varying blades in the spare room closest to his, probably so he could straddle the balcony and climb through the window for easy access to most of his weapons. There were other spots where he had various blades, but that room was where the highest quantity of pointies were. 

As he bolted down the hallway, something unusual caught his eye. He almost ignored it, his brain so focused on Dami, but part of his brain belonged, and would always belong, to being Robin. And Robin was a detective just like Batman. 

Tim’s door was open a crack. 

Tim NEVER left his door open. 

Jay slowed. In the beginning, Tim would let his brothers into his room if he was asked nicely. Dick had been in there a few times, but the longer Tim was in the Manor, the more forbidden his room had become. It was at the point where, if Jay tried to look over Tim to see what was in there, the shorter boy would hiss like a cat. 

Or like a demon. 

So going into Tim’s room would be a huge violation of privacy. But Dami was missing. And Tim’s door was open. _ And Tim could be a terrifying bastard when provoked._ But Dami had just watched Old Yeller and Tim’s door was open. 

Jay placed his hand on the door and mumbled a prayer, for strength or luck or something, and pushed. 

Holy shit. No wonder Tim didn’t let people in here. 

The room was a mess. Clothes were strung across the floor haphazardly, books were stacked precariously and Jay wasn’t sure if it was science or witchcraft that prevented them from tipping onto the floor. Scratch that. There was definitely a pile where the Tim’s stacking method hadn’t held. 

Jay carefully picked his way through the room, trying hard not to step on anything. Given how much clothing was on the floor it was a really fucking difficult task. He grabbed the door to Tim’s closet and prayed for a moment that there was no weird porn. He tugged it open.    
  
No porn. Just computer shit and his camera stuff, all stacked nicely. The complete opposite of the room. God, Tim was weird. 

Okay, so the closet was clear. Where else could Dami be?

Jay glanced around the room again, taking in the empty chip bags, the dirty coffee cups, the unmade bed. 

The unmade bed. 

Now, deep down, deep deep deep down, did Dami have the instincts of a normal, non-assassin child?

Only one way to find out. Jay stumbled his way through the minefield of Tim’s, cursing his brother every time his toe snagged a loose shirt. He braced himself on the edge of the bed, poking all the suspicious lumps to make sure they were just tangled blankets, and bent over. 

There, under Tim’s bed, was a huddled Dami. 

“Timothy will kill you creatively for this gross violation of his privacy,” Dami said, as though he was completely innocent in this endeavor. 

“I have a habit of living when people kill me. Now move over.” Dami scoffed but shuffled the needed inches for Jay to wedge himself under the bed. It wasn’t a great position to be, the wood frame touching his chest with every breath, but Jay could see light poking out behind Dami, which was enough to keep him calm. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“There is nothing to talk about!” Dami snapped, though it was ruined by a sniffle. The poor kid’s eyes were bloodshot and there were definite tear tracks down his cheeks. 

“It’s okay, Gremlin,” Jay said as soothingly as he could get away with without being stabbed for being patronizing. “I sobbed the first time I saw Old Yeller,” Jay confessed. 

“That is because you are weak,” Dami snarled, inching away from Dami.

“He was a good dog and he deserved better.”

Dami’s face scrunched up before he burst into tears. “I do not understand! He saved them and they returned his valor by shooting him! He was a good dog! The best dog in the west! The theme music ass-ss-ssured us so but then he was going to eat the s-small boy and I do not understand! It was a st-st-stupid film!” he sobbed. 

Jay wiggled until his hand was on Dami’s head. “Old Yeller was the best dog. He was wounded in battle and that wound made him sick. Do you think that Old Yeller would have wanted to live if all he was going to do was kill those he loved?” 

“Why did he just not kill anyone?! I do not understand!” Dami wailed. 

Jay ran his fingers through Dami’s hair. “He got rabies, Dami. It turns animals into vicious killers before it kills them anyway.”

“What will happen if I get rabies?” Dami whispered. “Would you have to shoot me before I killed you all?”

Shit did this kid have baggage. “No, Gremlin,” Jay soothed. “We’d give you a vaccine and you would be fine.”

“Then why did they not give Old Yeller a vaccine?” Dami asked with a sniff. 

If Jay were Tim he would probably have enough knowledge to just explain the entire history of both vaccines and rabies to Dami, but Jay’s nerd focus tended to be on the history of the Brontë sisters published works, which was not particularly useful in this particular moment. 

But he could talk about the value of stories. 

He chose his words carefully, like shards of glass to make a mosaic but ran the risk of cutting if poorly placed. “Old Yeller is the story of a hero who makes a noble sacrifice, but instead of dying on the field of battle he dies from his wounds after.” Dami stared at Jay, unblinking, so the older boy continued. “A lot of people think you have to be cut down on the field to be a hero and Old Yeller challenges that. He died at home surrounded by family, but he still died a noble warrior.” Jay moved his hand to rub his thumb against Dami’s forehead. “Do you understand?”

Dami huffed. “It was still a stupid movie.”

Jay suppressed a quirk of his lips. “Very stupid,” he said gravely.

Dami inched his way closer, until he was pressing into Jay’s chest. “We must eradicate rabies once and for all.”

Jay tucked Dami’s head under his chin. “Mm-hm,” he hummed in agreement. 

“You will inform Father,” the boy said gently, snuggling in deeper. 

“Absolutely,” Jay promised. He felt Dami’s breath even out as the boy drifted to sleep in his arms. Jay wasn’t sure what to do. He really didn’t want to get caught by Tim, but he really didn’t want to wake Dami. Kid was having a rough day. 

He’d give the boy a few minutes before trying to pry him out from under Tim’s bed. 

X-x-x-x-x-

Jay woke up to the sound of a click. He blinked awake to find Tim laying parallel, his phone in hand. Jay could feel the blood leave his face. Tim must have noticed because he gave a rueful grin. 

“You know what? I’m not even mad.” He snapped another picture. “You two are absolutely adorable. I’m going to go let Alfred know I found you.” Tim disappeared from view before popping back into sight. “Oh, and if you tell anyone what my room is like they will never find the body. Got it?”

Jay swallowed. “Got it.”   
  


Tim gave a friendly smile. “Cool. you can stay here as long as you like.” His eyes went stupid soft as he looked at Dami’s sleeping form. “You’re a good brother, Jay.” 

Tim vanished again.

Jay smiled into Dami’s hair before placing a soft kiss on the boy’s forehead. Jay didn’t think he was a good brother yet, but he’d get there.

He’d get there. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> For those who don't know, Old Yeller is a movie based on a book about a stray dog that gets adopted into a Western Settler's household. After much trials and tribulation the dog saves the members of the family's lives a few times before saving them from a rabid wolf. Old Yeller gets rabies and has to be put down so he doesn't kill anyone. The good new is at the end of the movie they get a puppy from Old Yeller and they name him Sam. There is a sequel book called young Sam about that dog also saving the day.
> 
> Still taking prompts. 
> 
> Also, I hate the title so if anyone has better suggestions I'm all ears.


End file.
